Oukaimeden by Catherine Cooper

Staying at the chic and comfortable Riad Akka in the heart of Marrakech for the weekend, we were heading off on a day trip to the tiny ski resort of Oukaimeden, just 74km south of Marrakech in the Atlas Mountains – around an hour and a half’s drive away.

Oukaimeden is Africa’s highest ski resort, its village sitting at 2,600 metres and its highest (and indeed, only) chairlift rising to 3,258 metres. Five red and black runs come down from this dizzying height and elsewhere in the resort – a short walk or donkey-ride away - are four short drag lifts servicing the nursery and intermediate slopes.

It has all the facilities you would find in a typical European resort - ski hire, ski school, restaurants and hotels - but all done in a distinctly Moroccan way. The official ski hire shops offer reasonably well-maintained if somewhat dated skis and boots for around 170 dirham per day – or you can take your chances with the many unofficial equipment renters. Their “shops” consist of various piles of 1980s skis and boots of random sizes laid out in the mud at the bottom of the slopes which can be hired for about 20 dirham or so, depending on how much time you want to spend haggling. A lift pass is a simple piece of paper, ski lessons range from 50 to 100 dirham per hour and donkeys wander back and forth between the lifts instead of shuttle buses.

The chairlift up to the 3258 metre peak of Jebel Attar is ideal for those who are afraid of heights as it is incredibly slow and you are never more than a few feet from the ground. At the top young men all keen to offer their services as “moniteur” argued over who was going to accompany me down – for a price, of course. Eventually I agreed to have one guide me down as from the top of the lift I couldn’t see anything resembling a piste as I knew it and felt nervous going alone.

Getting off the chair lift there are a few piste signs pointing vaguely in various directions but once you have left the top, the piste boundaries – such as they are - are not marked at all. The only piste map is a faded painted board at the bottom of the slope. The snow is far from the groomed-flat pistes we are used to in the European or US resorts and this combined with the old-fashioned hire skis this made for a bumpy ride and a lot of difficulty turning .

After one cautious and very mogulled run down I ditched my “moniteur” as he didn’t seem very sure of where he was going and instead met up with president of the Oukaimeden Ski Instructors’ Association Mohammed, a charming young Moroccan who speaks six languages. He said he wished the authorities would do more to keep the unofficial workers away. “They put people off and it can even be dangerous as they don’t always know what they are doing,” he said.

The longest run is three kilometres and none of the runs from the top of the chairlift is easy. The main runs are Grande Combe (a steep mogul-field) or Pistes des Mouflons which is dotted with huge boulders and feels more like being off-piste on hard, icy snow. Runs are steep (if you fall, you fall a very long way, as I terrifyingly discovered) and while Mohammed assured me the pistes are groomed, they felt nothing like any piste I had ever skied before. The slopes were uncrowded even though the resort itself seemed busy and the skiers mainly picked their way gingerly down slopes rather than swooshing down in smooth turns. There are certainly no motorway runs for showing off your carving here.

Over on the nursery slopes catapult-like drag-lifts take skiers to the top of a reasonably well-groomed snow-field and local men mill around selling trying to sell their bags of walnuts, honey and necklaces. Guides also offer other mountain activities such as ski-touring and snow-shoeing.

But Oukaimeden is not just about skiing. There is a big sledging area where families play with their children and the pedestrian queue for the chairlift – people going up to admire the incredible view and take pictures of each other at the top – is about four times as long as the one for skiers.

As well as several kiosks selling snacks and drinks there are also a couple of restaurants – we ate at Chez Juju which felt quite French – tagine was on the menu of course, but there were also some chicken dishes, cassoulet, a children’s menu and you could even order a beer.

There are four hotels in Oukaimeden ranging from the 160-bed hostel Club Alpin which costs just 69 dirham per night to the 101-room 4-star Hotel Club Louka with rooms starting at 815 dirham half-board. However, nightlife and other activities in Oukaimeden are very limited and for most people, Oukaimeden will probably be better experienced as a day trip from Marrakech.

But all this is set to change. Dubai-based company Emaar is investing $1.4 billion in Oukaimeden – improving the infrastructure, updating the lifts and runs, introducing snow-cannons, building 11 luxury hotels and installing the world’s highest 18-hole golf course. Planning has already started and before long this truly old-fashioned little ski-resort will probably start to look much like any other. Catch Oukaimeden in the raw while you still can.